1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a rotary atomizer and an air bearing protection system for the rotary atomizer, and more particularly to, a rotary atomizer and an air bearing protection system for the rotary atomizer, in which the structure is simplified to reduce the manufacturing cost, an air bearing is used to enable high-speed rotation along with savings in the maintenance and repair cost, and compressed air can be temporarily supplied at emergency such as interruption of the compressed air, thereby improving the stability and durability of the entire system such as prevention of air bearing failure.
2. Background of the Related Art
A rotary atomizer refers to a fine liquid-drop spray system. For example, it can be adopted in a semi-dried reactor for removing toxic acidic gas in an incineration process. Here, the rotary atomizer sprays Ca(OH)2, which causes desulphurization reaction, in the form of fine liquid drops to remove SOx. It may be used in a manufacturing process of powders (e.g., ceramics, foods, medicines), where liquid is made into fine liquid-drops which are in turn dried to produce dried powders.
Such a rotary atomizer is disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. Hei 7-328489. In this approach, an accelerator is used for enabling high-speed rotation and thus a lot of heat and load are caused upon the continuous operation. In order to remove this heat, lubricating equipment is used, which leads to complexity in the system structure, consequently to difficulties in the maintenance and an increase in the manufacturing cost.
In addition, the input and output shafts are rotatably supported by means of a ball bearing. When in high-speed rotation of above 10,000 RPM, the ball bearing comes to have degraded durability and thus is to be replaced at regular time intervals.